The Tigers have signed 26-year old righty swinging catcher Robinzon Diaz to a minor league deal. Diaz played in 41 games for the Pirates last season and he was 36 for 129 (.279 avg, .663 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer and 19 RBIs. Diaz has now played in 44 games in his two years in the majors and he is 39 for 139 (.281 avg, .659 OPS) with 9 runs scored, 1 homer, 20 RBIs and 1 stolen base. I wouldn’t expect that this signing will lead to a trade of Gerald Laird. The Tigers have liked Diaz for a while so he will likely start the year in AAA and earn a promotion if they have any injuries to the catchers.

The Tigers were involved in a gigantic trade today with the Arizona Diamondbacks and the New York Yankees. The Tigers traded Edwin Jackson to the D-Backs as part of this trade and Curtis Granderson to the Yankees. In return the Tigers received 22-year old righty swinging OF Austin Jackson, 27-year old lefty reliever Phil Coke, 25-year old righty starting pitcher Max Scherzer and 23-year old lefty reliever Daniel Schlereth. This was a huge haul for the Tigers which also cleared up a lot of payroll space. Austin Jackson was the Yankees #1 rated prospect heading into last season according to Baseball America and he will more than likely replace Granderson as the starting CF in 2010. He played in 132 games in AAA-ball last season and he was 151 for 504 (.300 avg, .759 OPS) with 67 runs scored, 4 homers, 65 RBIs and 24 stolen bases. Max Scherzer was a big prize in this trade for the Tigers as he has a huge upside. He pitched in 30 games (all starts) for the D-Backs last season and he was 9-11 with a 4.12 ERA and a 1.34 WHIP. Scherzer has now pitched in 46 games (37 starts) in his two years in the majors and he is 9-15 with a 3.86 ERA and a 1.32 WHIP. He has only allowed 214 hits in 226 1/3 innings in his major league career while whiffing 240 batters which shows how nasty his stuff is. He is cheaper than Edwin Jackson and he probably has a larger upside. 23-year old lefty reliever Daniel Schlereth was the #3 rated prospect of the D-Backs heading into last season. He pitched in 21 games (0 starts) for the D-Backs last year and he was 1-4 with a 5.89 ERA and a 1.64 WHIP. He whiffed 22 batters for the D-Backs in only 18 1/3 innings showing that he has the stuff to succeed but he needs to improve his control a bit as he walked 15 batters. But, he was excellent in the minors last season as he pitched in 20 games (0 starts) in AA+AAA ball and he was 0-0 with 4 saves, a 0.98 ERA and a 1.16 WHIP. Phil Coke was the Yankees’ #8 rated prospect heading into the 2009 season according to Baseball America. He pitched in 72 games (0 starts) for the Yankees last season and he was 4-3 with 2 saves, a 4.50 ERA and a 1.07 WHIP. He only allowed 44 hits in 60 innings last season for the Yanks while whiffing 49 batters as he has pretty good stuff. Coke has now pitched in 84 games (0 starts) in his two years in the majors and he is 5-3 with 2 saves, a 3.74 ERA and a 0.99 WHIP.

Curtis Granderson will be missed as he was a solid player for the Tigers. He played in 160 games for the Tigers last season and he was 157 for 631 (.249 avg, .780 OPS) with 91 runs scored, 30 homers, 71 RBIs and 20 stolen bases. In six years with the Tigers, Granderson played in 674 games in which he was 702 for 2,579 (.278 avg, .828 OPS) with 435 runs scored, 102 homers, 299 RBIs and 67 stolen bases. Edwin Jackson was outstanding in his first and only season with the Tigers. He pitched in 33 games (all starts) for the Tigers last season and he was 13-9 with a 3.62 ERA and a 1.26 WHIP. In his seven years in the majors, Jackson has pitched in 139 games (110 starts) and he is 38-39 with a 4.66 ERA and a 1.51 WHIP.

The Yankees traded Ian Kennedy to the D-Backs as part of this trade. I really like this deal for the Tigers as it opened up some payroll space while adding three outstanding arms to the pitching staff. The key to the trade will be if Jackson is capable of replacing Granderson or it. Still, I give the Tigers a huge thumbs up for this trade.

The Tigers have re-signed 32-year old righty swinging shortstop Adam Everett to a 1-year, $1.55 million dollar deal. Everett played in 118 games for the Tigers last season and he was 82 for 345 (.238 avg, .613 OPS) with 43 runs scored, 3 homers, 44 RBIs and 5 stolen bases. Everett has now played 9 years in the majors playing in 815 games in which he is 640 for 2,617 (.245 avg, .648 OPS) with 319 runs scored, 40 homers, 278 RBIs and 64 stolen bases. They re-signed Everett because of his slick glove and he will team again with Ramon Santiago to hold down the fort at shortstop in 2010 for the Tigers.

The Tigers have signed 32-year old lefty reliever Brad Thomas to a minor league deal. He has been pitching in Korea the last few years. Thomas last pitched in the majors in 2004 with the Twins. He has pitched in 11 games (5 starts) in his major league career and he is 0-3 with a 9.89 ERA and a 2.16 WHIP. This signing was a shot in the dark as Thomas once was a decent prospect.

The Tigers have traded 28-year old lefty reliever Clay Rapada to the Texas Rangers for a player to be named later. Rapada pitched in 3 games (0 starts) for the Tigers last season and he was 0-0 with a 5.40 ERA and a 1.80 WHIP. He pitched in 32 games (0 starts) in his three years with the Tigers and he was 3-0 with a 5.00 ERA and a 1.63 WHIP. The Tigers shouldn’t miss him too much.